CHIRP 2014

Free Concerts * 7:00 P.M. * Ballard Park

Bring a picnic and a blanket!

TUES. MAY 27: BOB BUTTON BIG BAND
For more than 35 years, The Bob Button Band has entertained audiences in the New York area with music from the Big Band Era. The Band has played at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, The NY Athletic Club, Playhouse on the Green in Bridgeport, Connecticut Jazz Festival and lots more.
Underwritten in part by Fairfield County Bank

TUES. JUNE 3: THE REVELERS
“Louisiana bred party music sustained by the sonorous signature of its native milieu, but perked up by an injection of contemporary pop, rock and R&B.” (Songlines Mag. UK, June 2013).
Underwritten by Lexus of Greenwich

TUES. JUNE 10: BRUCE ROBISON & KELLY WILLIS
Country music has a long tradition of co-ed duet partners, Johnny and June, George and Tammy, Conway and Loretta. This duo, like the others, is country royalty.
Underwritten by John Katz

TUES. JUNE 17: ROOSEVELT DIME
“A perpetual crowd pleaser” (New York Times). This group combines elements of acoustic jug-band blues, classic New Orleans soul and neo-folk. Hear banjo, washtub bass, percussion, trumpet & woodwinds.
Underwritten in part by Bob & Loire Leavitt

TUES. JUNE 24: GUY DAVIS & THE ROCKETS
Guy Davis is a bluesman. “A singer and guitarist in the mold of Robert Johnson and Mississippi John Hurt….he is an enchanting storyteller.” (The Scottsman, 2000)
Underwritten by Bettye Turitto

TUES. JULY 1: THE HOT NUT RIVETERS
Texas’ only authentic vaudeville string band! An evening laced with laughter. It’s dirty music from a much more innocent time.
Underwritten in part by The Leir Foundation, Inc.

THURS. JULY 3: THE STEELDRIVERS
3x Grammy and 4x IBMA nominees, braiding their bluegrass roots with new threads of their own design, bringing together country, soul, and other contemporary influences to create an unapologetic hybrid that is new music with the old feeling.
Underwritten in part by Ron Rucolas of Ridgefield Pet

TUES. JULY 8: THE STRAY BIRDS
“Super talented acoustic trio…Rich vocal harmonies, tight acoustic arrangements, heart wrenching songs” (Fly Magazine). Traditional and original American Mountain music.
Underwritten by the Wadsworth Russell Lewis Trust Fund

THURS. JULY 10: THE FAIRFIELD COUNTS
Come take another trip down nostalgia lane while you catch the big band hits of the thirties and forties: Artie Shaw, Glen Miller, Duke Ellington and more. At intermission help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Ridgefield Symphony.
Underwritten in part by The Ridgefield Thrift Shop

TUES. JULY 15: C.J. CHENIER & HIS RED HOT LOUISIANA BAND
For the 5th yr. in a row, CHIRP’s “most wanted.” C.J. is “heir to the Zydeco throne.” (Billboard Magazine)
Underwritten by The Heckert Family

THURS. JULY 17: Eileen Ivers & Immigrant Soul
Underwritten by Chris Pike of Ridgefield Music

SAT. JUL 19: Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion                                  Concert sponsored by CHIRP & The Ridgefield Playhouse                  As part of Summerfest: Ridgefield Rewinds to 1964. Folk Rock Duo

TUES. JULY 22: NORA JANE STRUTHERS & THE PARTY LINE
“Fans of Dixie Chicks, Alison Krauss and Dolly Parton, take notice: Nora Jane Struthers embodies everything you could want in an Americana singer-songwriter.” — NPR Music
Underwritten by the Anna Maria & Stephen Kellen Foundation

THURS. JULY 24: PINE LEAF BOYS
“The next best thing to a dance on Saturday Night” (Rolling Stone). The New York Times says, “the best new, energetic, and fun Cajun band in a very long time,” The Pine Leaf Boys play the old fashion dance hall standards while bringing some of the more obscure songs of past masters into their repertoire.
Underwritten by Sam Hur of Ridgefield Cleaners

TUES. JULY 29: THE DUHKS
Celtic fiddles, Irish reels, old-time banjo, gospel vocals, and Latin percussion forge a common spirit within the uncommonly vibrant fusion of the band. Back with some new members but hot and fresh. Jessee Havey sounding better than ever.
Underwritten by Lexus of Mt. Kisco

THURS. JULY 31: JIMMY LA FAVE
A “red dirt romantic” with his own style of “dirty boots folk-rock” LaFave hails from Oklahoma and Texas and is a multiple music award winner.
Underwritten in part by the Law Firm of Cohen & Wolf, P.C.

TUES. AUG. 5: MATUTO
“Joyous ebullient music…merges the Forro folkloric music of Brazil with the sounds of all-American bluegrass” (Chicago Tribune).
Underwritten by Purkiss Capital Advisors, LLC

THURS. AUG. 7: JOHN FULLBRIGHT
From The Ground Up, John’s studio debut won a Grammy nomination for “Best Americana Album.” “Moving” a song from it won the 2012 ASCAP Foundation Harold Adamson Lyric Award for a song with intelligent and sensitive lyrics. And all this before Fullbright was even 24!
Underwritten by a Norwalk fan of CHIRP.

TUES. AUG. 12: HOT CLUB OF COWTOWN
A CHIRP audience favorite 4 yrs. running, the “world’s most amazing Western Swing Band” (London, Sunday Times) is back with the incomparable Elana James, Whit Smith & Jake Erwin.
Underwritten by the Heckert Family

THURS. AUG. 14: TUMBLING BONES
Trio of young men from Portland Maine inspired by old music. Traditional American music with a “strong dose of grit and emotional intensity”. American spirituals, driving fiddle tunes and rustic country blues, as well as original compositions infused with infectious energy.
Underwritten by Naomi Manners Stern

TUES. AUG. 19: RUTHIE FOSTER
This woman can burn down any stage with her combustible blend of soul, blues, rock, folk and gospel. A 2012 and 2009 Grammy nomination as well as a recent Blues Music Award for Best Contemporary and Best Traditional Blues Female Artist of the Year.
Underwritten by William Leventon

THURS. AUG. 21: THE WIYOS
“Fabulously skilled and inspired kooks.” (L.A. Times). Multi-instrumentalists with a knack for hammering archaic musical traditions into new directions.
Underwritten by David Manners-Weber in honor of Ray

TUES. AUG. 26: MAX BACA & LOS TEXMANIACS
2010 Grammy Award winners, this famed conjunto band incorporates elements from rock & roll and jazz with Tejano music.
Underwritten by Greenwich Infiniti

THURS. AUG. 28: ALEXIS P. SUTER BAND
A favorite of B.B.King and the late Levon Helm, nominated for Best Soul Blues Female Artist at the 33rd Annual Blues Music Awards, Suter has a voice that is “fierce and ferocious.” (Living Blues Magazine)
Underwritten in part by Naomi Manners Stern

 

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*Rain venue for June 10, July 24, July 31 and August 14 is East Ridge Middle School. July 3rd rain venue TBA. Rain venue for all other concerts is The Ridgefield Playhouse. On concert days call 203 431-2760 after 4:00p.m. to confirm location if weather is “iffy.”

CHIRP series is co-sponsored by the Town of Ridgefield through its Parks & Recreation department, The Ridgefield Press and Lexus of Greenwich, Lexus of Mt. Kisco & Greenwich Infiniti. Donations gratefully accepted. Send to CHIRP, Town Hall, 400 Main Street. Ridgefield, CT 06877 or call 203 431-6501 to learn more.

Producer: Barbara Manners, Tech. Dir. Mark Murray.